


a witch's best friend

by rozecrest



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gen, a bit of a speculative future fic bc i love the concept of palismans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24743539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozecrest/pseuds/rozecrest
Summary: “Honestly,” Luz said, looking down at it in her hands, “I thought it would be warmer.”“Well, that's because it's a new staff kid. You gotta put your magic into it.” Eda said, smiling a tired smile.Or,Luz finally gets her witches staff & meets her palisman.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, just a hint because I can't help myself
Comments: 15
Kudos: 371





	a witch's best friend

“Honestly,” Luz said, looking down at it in her hands, “I thought it would be warmer.”

“Well, that's because it's a new staff kid. You gotta put your magic into it.” Eda said, smiling a tired smile.

Luz was tired too. Usually, she had all the energy in the world for absolutely anything involving magic but the process to getting your own witches staff was absolutely exhausting. She could see why Eda had put it off for so long.

But after the incident, and all of Bonesborough united to drive back the foul, hungry creature that Emporer’s Coven had been using to slowly sap the life out of the land for millennia, Luz had known she couldn’t solely rely on her written glyphs, and Eda had too.

Besides, Owlbert was getting tired of snatching notebooks for her in the human world.

A witch’s staff was personal. You couldn't just walk into the magical woods and chop down a tree and call it a day. You had to forge a connection with the land and the tree itself or it would never hold your magic in itself.

And they had. Willow and Wus had seen them off at the forests gnarled entrance, with a note from Amity as well. The note was a simple 'Good luck Luz' in the girl’s familiar looped script. There was a small heart at the bottom. Luz had pressed her thumb to it and felt courage (and something else that she was ignoring, thank you very much) swell within her.

And now, in front of her was her staff. It was dark brown wood, with flecks of red and silver running up it's side all the way to the top where there was a wooden cat figurehead. The cat curled in a ball sleeping with its tail curled round its legs. It was beautiful and hard-won and Luz could barely breathe from excitement.

King scurried up the table and presented Luz with a book, thick and old-looking. She scratched his head in thanks and his tail whapped on the table in appreciation. He had finally stopped pretending he didn’t enjoy Luz's affection, built up from all the years of longing for a pet in her world. Now the king of demons was comfortable enough to plan his role as leader in the future world takeover while on his back in Luz’s lap as she cooed into his belly.

  
Eda opened the book and flipped to the page needed. There was writing of strong magic in this book, Luz could tell. When she squinted the words almost seemed to pulse like a living thing.

She told Eda this and her mentor laughed, her fangs glinting.

“That’s because you’re making a living thing. A spell written is only a small push from being a spell made. You’d know something about that.” She grinned, pushing Luz’s shoulder lightly with her own.

  
Eda wasn’t often one to express her affection aloud, but that was okay because Luz had learned to read her. Pride shone in her gaze as she did their tried and true routine of teaching Luz a new spell, weaving her hands through the motions until just before it’s cast so Luz’s now-practiced eyes could pick out the rune pattern within. Pride shone in the way she clapped Luz on the shoulder and squeezed, just once, when the young witch had the spell pattern perfected. Eda’s approval filled her chest with warmth faster than any light spell could.

And all that was left was to cast it.

  
King dashed across the table sweeping off old quills and crumpled up pieces of paper from Luz’s spells with a shrill battle cry, leaving Luz room to gently lay her staff (her staff!) onto it.

  
Her hands were shaking. Nerves. Anticipation. Excitement.

Eda and King stepped to the side, the demon crawling up into Eda's arms. The witch gripped him tight. It seemed Luz wasn’t the only nervous one.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hooty peeking in the door, quiet for once, just watching. Even he knew the animation of a witch's staff was a big deal. A once in the lifetime kind of big deal.

  
Luz pulled out a page of paper that had been carefully folded from her pocket. It was a page from her original notebook that she had on her fateful first trip into Bonesborough. She had thought it had been long used up for spellcasting but a few months ago she had found a torn-out piece of paper from it, forgotten underneath her sleeping pad. Luz had decided to save it for a special occasion and this was definitely it.

Carefully she traced out the spell circle. It was one of the most complicated glyphs she had ever learned but her hands were steady now. She was a witch. She could do this.

Then, the final step. Luz reached up to her head, where her hair had started to grow out shaggier than she usually let it back in the human world, and plucked out a hair. A connection between witch and staff. She weaved it around her drawn lines and leaned in.

“Wake up,” she whispered softly to the page. “I’m ready to meet you.”

Light. Almost like her first spell but brighter, burning the paper to a crisp and racing to her hands and into her. It traveled up her arms and to her shoulders and to her chest where it flashed suddenly and filled her with the most indescribable feeling. For a second, she was the magic.

Then all at once, it dimmed and floated out of Luz. Somehow, Luz could feel that she had passed some kind of test. The orbs of magic were pulsating gently as they drifted to her staff and sunk into it.

And just like that, the spell was cast.

“You could have told me it happened like that,” said Luz weakly blinking the spots from her eyes.

  
“And ruin the surprise?” Eda was grinning harder than Luz had ever seen her. She and King were both wearing sunglasses. They had taken advantage of her concentration while drawing to put them on, the sneaks.

  
"Well,” prompted King. “Aren't you gonna see if it worked?”

  
Luz nodded slowly. The nerves rushed back as if they had never left as she looked to the table.

For a moment, nothing. Luz could feel her heart in her shoes.

And then, a twitch of a wooden nose. A shudder ran through the small cat as it yawned to reveal small sharp canines and a tawny-brown tongue.

Too. Cute. Luz couldn’t help her squeal.

At the sound, her palisman opened its eyes for the first time. They were the same hazel as her own.

Luz blinked. So did the cat.

It stood, detaching itself off of her staff, and stretched languidly. It fixed it’s gaze to hers. Despite only being a couple of minutes old, it seemed wise.

“Hey little fella,” she said. “How are you?”

Luz wasn't really expecting an answer. But as she had found, magic had never let itself be constrained by her expectations.

 _Lovely_ , it said. _But I’m not a fella_.

Luz could understand it! Well, her, as she had been just informed. Over the palisman’s brassy meow she could clearly hear a voice. She had always known that Eda and Owlbert could communicate, and did so often, but she never processed that it would happen for her.

“Wow,” she breathed. “What’s your name? I'm Luz Noceda!”

 _Caterina,_ she said. _It’s nice to finally meet you, Luz_.

Caterina reached up, nose first. Instinctively, or maybe with something deeper than instinct, Luz bent down. Their noses touched. Caterina’s felt grainy and smelled of moss. Luz loved her so much already.

There was a hoot to her side and Owlbert hopped to life on Eda’s staff and swooped down to them. Luz took a step back, eager to see. The palismans took each other in for a loaded moment. And then Owlbert hopped forward and swooped Caterina under his wing and immediately started a valiant effort at preening her wooden body, to the cat’s annoyance.

Luz was distracted from this adorable sight by a surprisingly strong hand seizing her and spinning her around into a hug. The smell of weird potion ingredients surrounded her and Luz couldn’t help but laugh. Like palisman like witch.

“Eda,” giggled Luz. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying out this whole human affection thing,” Eda replied, in the gruff voice she always used when she was embarrassed. “You did a good job kid.”

Luz felt a prickling at her eyes. She squeezed tighter.

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

They held each other for a while. Eda clearly didn’t know the typical length of a hug and Luz was happy to let it go on. By the time they released each other, Caterina had reached the stage of begrudging acceptance at Owlbert’s fussiness and closed her eyes, leaning in and wrapping her surprisingly flexible tail around his talon.

“So,” said Luz, trying her best to be casual. “When do I start flying?"

“I call shotgun!” called King.

“This was a mistake.” Eda groaned.

Luz waited patiently.

".....After my nap.”

“Yes!” cried King.

“I can’t wait to show you to everyone!” Luz picked Caterina up and spun her around. “Amity is gonna die at how cute you are!”

Luz’s laugh and Caterina’s rumbling purr filled the air of the owl house, seeping out the windows and into Bonesborough beyond.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! do leave a comment if you did! i have a lumity fic in the works so i'd love to see if there's interest for more :)
> 
> I'm on twitter & tumblr @rozecrest!


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